Late Medieval

Pisa Baptistery Pulpit

Nicola Pisano

Nativity Panel

Nicola Pisano

Fortitude

Nicola Pisano

Maesta

Cimabue

Orgnissanti Madonna

Giotto

Arena Chapel

Giotto

Spolia

Reusing architectural or decorative elements from older structures in new buildings or resources

Pulpit

Elevated platform in a Christian church where a preacher or reader would deliver a sermon or read from the Bible

Lectern

Pedestal-based reading desk with a slanted top used to support liturgical books during religious services

Trefoil Arches

Pointed arched with cusps on either side of the apex, shaped like three overlapping circles.

Giorgio Vasari

Italian painter, architect, poet, and biographer who is often called the first art historian.

Virtues

Stable qualities of a person’s character that were expressed through their actions

Buon Fresco

Apply multiple coats of plaster to a wall then traces the design onto the fresh plaster and paint the image in water-based pigments on the wet plaster

Giornate

Section of a fresco that was painted in one session

Dante Alighieri

Author of Divine Comedy

Usury/usurer

Charging excessive interest on a loan

The Divine Comedy

Spiritual journey through hell, purgatory, and paradise.

Enrico Scrovegni

Commissioned Arena Chapel

Chiaroscuro

Use of light and shadow to create illusion of volume and mass

Intuitive Perspective

Drawing method that uses the artist’s observation skills and eye to create a sense of perspective for the viewer

Maesta

Painting that depicts Mary and Child Jesus enthroned as Queen of Heaven surrounded by angels and saints

Tempera

Painting technique that involves mixing pigments with a water-soluble binder and egg yolk to create a permanent, fast-drying paint.

Sacra Conversazione

Italian Renaissance art genre that depicts the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus surrounded by saints in a unified space

Altarpiece

Placed behind the altar in a church

Polyptchy

Painting or sculpture made up of multiple panels that was often used as an altarpiece

Guild(s)

Associations of merchants and craftsmen that served as important social and economic institutions

Lay Confraternity

Voluntary Christian organization of laypeople who engaged in charitable and devotional activities